MANILA – The government might allow more sugar imports to the Philippines to reduce prices of the commodity as soon as the rice tariffication bill becomes law, the National Economic and Development Authority said Thursday.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said sugar is very expensive in the Philippines because the supply is provided by only a few players.

“We hope to open up the sector to freer importation, and reduce the price of sugar," Pernia said in a statement. He added that liberalizing sugar imports would be challenging, but it was needed to keep prices down.

Pernia said economic managers floated the idea of liberalizing the sugar industry during a meeting of Economic Development Cluster last January 14.

President Rodrigo Duterte certified the Rice Tariffication Bill as urgent during his State of the Nation Address last year in a bid to tame inflation.

The bill was submitted to Malacañang last December, but the President has yet to sign it.